Deutsch

Title (in English): Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Contribution to the Third Wave of Behavior Therapy

Background. For some years behavior therapy has experienced a set of extensions so that some people speak of a third wave of behavior therapy following the cognitive turn in the sixties and seventies of the previous century. The new components of treatment are based on phenomena that scientific psychology has had difficulties to conceptualise like mindfulness, acceptance, distancing from verbal content, spirituality and a transcendent sense of self.

Purpose. This article aims at presenting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a paradigmatic treatment approach within the third wave of behavior therapy.

Method. Starting with the problem of behavioral rigidity that often accompanies mental disorders the development of behavior therapy is conceptualised as a succession of three waves. Then the theoretical and practical foundations of ACT are described. The philosophical assumptions are only touched upon.

Results. ACT is based on an elaborate functional analysis of human language and cognition, Relational Frame Theory (RFT), that provides an integrating framework for diverse therapeutic techniques. RFT explains the behavioral inflexibility of mental disorders through ubiquitous context variables like cognitive fusion, evaluation, emotional avoidance, and reason giving which are targeted directly in ACT. According to the ACT model unwanted inner experiences function as obstacles to a committed way of life distracting action towards strategies of emotional avoidance and away from working towards valued life goals. ACT does not attempt to change debilitating cognitive and emotional content but those language-based contextual conditions that determine the action governing effects of inner experiences. Therapeutic interventions serve existential values and life goals which direct and dignify treatment. That includes enhancing psychological flexibility as an overarching goal as well as the ability to distinguish when life affords either direct change efforts and committed action or psychological acceptance.

Prospect. Like other third wave approaches ACT has demonstrated clinical efficacy in several studies. A special characteristic of ACT is that it integrates experimental basic research in the context of a coherent epistemological and anthropological viewpoint with the richness of clinical experience.

Title (in English): Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Contribution to the Third Wave of Behavior Therapy Background. For some years behavior therapy has experienced a set of extensions so that some people speak of a third wave of behavior therapy following the cognitive turn in the sixties and seventies of the previous century. The new components of treatment are based on phenomena that scientific psychology has had difficulties to conceptualise like mindfulness, acceptance, distancing from verbal content, spirituality and a transcendent sense of self. Purpose. This article aims at presenting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a paradigmatic treatment approach within the third wave of behavior therapy. Method. Starting with the problem of behavioral rigidity that often accompanies mental disorders the development of behavior therapy is conceptualised as a succession of three waves. Then the theoretical and practical foundations of ACT are described. The philosophical assumptions are only touched upon. Results. ACT is based on an elaborate functional analysis of human language and cognition, Relational Frame Theory (RFT), that provides an integrating framework for diverse therapeutic techniques. RFT explains the behavioral inflexibility of mental disorders through ubiquitous context variables like cognitive fusion, evaluation, emotional avoidance, and reason giving which are targeted directly in ACT. According to the ACT model unwanted inner experiences function as obstacles to a committed way of life distracting action towards strategies of emotional avoidance and away from working towards valued life goals. ACT does not attempt to change debilitating cognitive and emotional content but those language-based contextual conditions that determine the action governing effects of inner experiences. Therapeutic interventions serve existential values and life goals which direct and dignify treatment. That includes enhancing psychological flexibility as an overarching goal as well as the ability to distinguish when life affords either direct change efforts and committed action or psychological acceptance. Prospect. Like other third wave approaches ACT has demonstrated clinical efficacy in several studies. A special characteristic of ACT is that it integrates experimental basic research in the context of a coherent epistemological and anthropological viewpoint with the richness of clinical experience.